Research

Influences and historians to inspire from

Andrei Cioroianu

Andrei Cioroianu is a famous Romanian historian, his most famous work is a 5-minute documentary on the history of Romanian, in which Andrei explains with a very good flow and explicit way of communicating his knowledge to his audience. Andrei Cioroianu has inspired me with his template of the documentary, which helps me to break down and make a visual and editorial presentation on Greek culture.

My Identity project would be on the history and culture of Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, the context of this project would come from my explication of the meaning of the artifacts and cultural pieces exposed in the museum. 

Photographic Documentary

- Documentary photography is when a photo is taken and edited in such a way as to inform you about the main objective of the photo. For example, a photo of a destroyed Berlin in 1944 will show us, the future, the effect of WW2 on Germany as a piece of raw evidence. Documentary photography helps society to remember history as primary evidence and what it is about. Therefore influencing many beliefs and ideologies in our society.

Eugene Atget is a photographer which I would choose for my historical project as his style of photography puts a lot of emphasis on the dramatic atmosphere of his photo creates, he achieves such thing by taking a wide shot of a rustic urban location or object from an angle which reduces its exposure and increases the shadow volumes of the main object in the photo, also its sepia filter over the photo emphasizes even more on the feeling of non-modern aspect, this features altogether make up any photo look as an original victorian or 30s photo. This effect will be very suitable as I am trying to achieve, however, for its filter and color saturation I will use the 70s, Geoffrey Unsworth.

The Pantheon,1924, is a photo made by Eugene which I have founded very interesting and enjoyable, The low exposure in this picture is a little bit lower than the human pov, however, that is due to the limited technology of Eugene's era, even though, it still feels as if Eugene was trying to get the realistic point of view of a normal pass by person and what feeling did this location with low light left onto the walk-by person. Eugene has achieved this feeling by taking a wide shot, in order to imitate a person's FOV, at an eye level with a low ISO while maybe the natural light of the evening.

 The color pallet of the sepia filter, it is made up of brown, white, and black therefore making Eugene's sepia filer usual for the time this photo was taken, even though Eugene's coloring is common at his time, it still uniquely creates a more realistic view of the past due to context of his photos, which is everyday scenery and objects of the past, links very well with the old and dull color pallet, which leads to a more realistic feeling and understanding of the history of the past.

On the other hand, Eugene adds a more dramatic tone than the real-life aspect, Eugene's dark tone in this picture makes the photo more dramatic than its real-life view.

Self- Identity and Target Audience

Self - identity

Online identity is parallel with his brother's "real identity", this separation is conveyed that people act differently and show so of their imaginary identity online due to being a free place where they and we can safely express and behave rather than in real life.

• Online disinhibition - This is a phenomenon where people act completely differently than how they are in real life due to the safety of their screen.
• Toxic disinhibition - when someone becomes so-called a troll online, just to annoy or try to harm the expression of others.
•  Being disinhibition - this is one of the biggest problems with the internet is that people, copy and adapt their identity to what they see on the internet, mainly commercialized content.

SLIDE 1

In this Pegeou advertisement, the subjects which have caught my eye are the black women and the futuristic aesthetic of the car. This ad tries to persuade people by putting a black woman, which from her aspect looks like she is part of the new progressive culture movement and trend, these two features which the subject maintains are topics that are mostly looked up by Gen Z and further on generations, therefore, attracting them by putting something that they like and are aware of it. This advertisement attracts two types of audiences, average black people and people who are of an upper-working class, in their early 20s or 30s, both female and male gender or even the new non-binary due to her neutral gender aspect.

This futuristic advertisement has reflected only my attraction for futuristic and unique car designs but has not even touched my attention on what is attractive to a female. I would say that it would be better to change the advertisement and just showcase the design of the car and maybe add some elements of the new-gen audience but not too obvious or strong on their beside so that it doesn't bounce off people from other audiences who dislike this new-gen audience.     

SLIDE 2

One of the subjects which have caught my eye at first glance is the woman leaning on the car in a provocative position, in this advertisement, the Lexus car products are being showcased to attract mostly male audiences of any age and socio-economic group, Lexus uses the theory of male gaze and voyeurism to convince men to buy their product or at least catch the brand's awareness. Lexus's target audience is usually men in their 30s and 40s due to being a well-known casual street car that could be used for daily life and family travel, however, Lexus attempts to also attract their main audience of fathers but also expand its tentacles down to young men by using a shared factor by both demographics. The model is a white woman in her early 20s dressed in a red skirt that exposes as much skin as possible to entertain the male gaze. In this advertisement, my theory of attractiveness for the opposite sex is reflected in its peek, therefore, catching my attention to observe the ad.

One problem with this advertisement is that the products are not shown fully therefore not really presenting the product leaving the audiences quite confused and non-caring about the brand.

SLIDE 3

In this Suzuki advertisement, a major point that caught my eye is the man which is presented as an ideal model of man achievement in the social-economic scheme and also caught my eye by being related to my masculine identity, therefore trying to tempt me to buy or be interested into the car due to me relating to the ad's model. The audience which is targeted in this advertisement, are men in their late 30s which are part of the socio-economic's upper-class and working-class men.

This advertisement has reflected my idea of what an attractive man looks like and what presence we should have in society. I would say that this advertisement only needs to improve on the vibrance of its looks and make the man much bigger as is quite small and has a small chance of being detected by bypass people.

SLIDE 4 

BMW's advertisement is consistent with only one main subject and that is what it seems a close-up of a somewhat skin-exposing woman getting felt by two hands whose source is out of frame making us drive our minds in dirty thinking. BMW tries to persuade, in this advertisement, mainly male audiences by using their male gaze voyeurism technique which is common among highly commercial brand advertisements. In this advertisement, the target audience is males mainly the working class as the line tries to convey you to buy second-hand BMW cars. The white skin, young, and clean skin women does appeal to my theory of attractiveness as a white, European, and working-class man, therefore, catching my interest and attention for a second. I would say that in order for BMW's advertisement to be better I would suggest at least 10% screen placement of a product to point out because just like this, this advertisement could be misunderstood as an adult media text.

SNAP BACK TO REALITY.

Target audience helps, me to see what features to focus on due to being suitable for my audience's wants. An easy method to find a target audience would be covered in these 5 steps.

1. Collecting data- Starting by looking at media outlets that are familiar to you and digging into quantitative data. Two places where you can locate audience information are Google Analytics and YourCRM

2.  Identify the interest- Once you have collected the data and you have a good brief you must identify what the interests of the audience are and what they crave, such as example could topics, themes, styles, content and etc... anything which would answer the following questions.

• What problems were they trying to solve?
• What pain points did they encounter with other solutions they tried?
• What did they find most useful about your product or service?

3. Round up the dislikes and like-  To see if your data is valuable, inspect the numeric feedback that the audience has left so you know if they really enjoyed that type of video and if not, how many people don't like it.

4. Round the characteristics up To make a target audience you must imagine it as a real-life person with characteristics which they show in common, therefore depicting the perfect person for your contentment. 

Key demographics

• Age range:
• Gender:
• Common job title(s):

Key psychographics

• Likes …
• Dislikes …
• Strives for …
• Values …

Challenges

[Try to list 3 to 5.]

Preferred channels

• For content consumption:
• For first contact:
• For browsing:

5. Make changes in order to upkeep with the changes in market 

My Target Audience profile

Age - 16%

Gender - 60% men 40% women

Common job titles - students, any profession

Likes - visual explanations which help him to directly see what the article talks about, also the historical emphasis on dramatization and realism in the same jar
Dislike - bias and corrupted history which can be clearly seen as non-realistic and directional for a certain culture or group
They struggle with finding good sources of history which cover both visual pleasure and legible information. Many nationalistic histories are not explored therefore there is no new information  

Online dishabituation effect - This effect is when a person gets the confidence to say and behave in such a way he won't in real life.

Toxic disinhibition - Someone would act like a troll or a briefer only because of the online space.

Graphic Designer Inspiration

Max Hubert is a Swiss graphic designer whose style is a playful overlay of colorful objects over each other with a multi-blend mode, Hubert's layout is also very questionable due to the fact that it is diagonal from low right to left.

I have chosen him as an inspiration for my practice due to the overlay element of the shapes which creates a parallax and eye-catching aspect, this links to the fact that I want my magazine to be targeted at mostly teens and young adults which is an appealing aspect would be a graphical- modern style.

Graphic design research

While doing research on my design choice I have come to the conclusion that because my magazine tries to grab the attention of the younger generation between the ages of 13-22 I had to look at the most recent trends in graphic design posters however I also wanna keep an aspect of formality due to begin a serious and heavy topic about cultural identity and history.

Y2K - right now, the trend of the early 2000s is blowing up due to the fact that most people got sick and tired of only futuristic and smooth texture posters therefore they have discovered the Y2K  posters which gives a sense of more material feeling as it adds vintage effects, film and threshold, therefore I will be using it in some aspect of my picture to attract the audience of this trend  

- wilkinsonmelvin (no date) Bjork Pink Y2K aesthetic poster by Wilkinsonmelvin, Society6. Available at: https://society6.com/product/bjork-pink-y2k-aesthetic_poster (Accessed: April 14, 2023).

History magazine -This is my choice when it comes to the magazine's formal element of my magazine, the thick outline and the two color pallets are simple and impactful therefore I am looking to merge bought National Geographic design into a modern, new-gen audience's taste and see how it will fit in 

- National Geographic (unknown) history magazines, National Geographic magazine subscription: National Geographic.

Roman History - 4/04/2023

  Introduction - Our history covers many giants in the topic of empires and society however there is one which really stands out and most people have its name in their head. Roma, The Roman Empire, and The Holy Roman Empire are some of the keywords the general public of both Western and Eastern worlds has in their heads which are related to such valuable knowledge of The Roman Empire whose foot marks were left even in today's technology, society, traditions, and philosophy.

Beginning - Before its gigantic nature, The Roman Empire starts as a small village around the river Tiba, where in today's time, the capital of Italy, Roma. You might as yourself "How did a small village manage to conquer a huge chunk of the world?", well the village Roma was between two neighbors which were very beneficial for them; the Etrucans tribe in the north of modern-day Italy and down to the south were the Greek tribes which established a trade flow between them and the Etruscans. Little Rome had an advantage as it was between the two tribes and how engaged with both of their societies. This small village was a heaven as it accepted anyone from criminals to teachers of a subject, therefore expanding its diversity in population and knowledge. Once with this flow of migrants and refugees, little Roma has become one of the gigantic metropolitan cities of ancient times. Its diversity tracks the ethnicity of the Roman people all the way to the Middle East, even in the myth of the Roman founder Romulus who has killed his brother, Remus, They are believed to be war refugees of the Trojan War. 

With a merge and Etrucas adaptation to the Greek language, the Latin language is born and it wasn't the only thing that was brought by Rome from its northern neighbor, military strategies and political models such as monarchal reign were also main essentials that were brought to establish the roman society, also for the entertainment and traditional sake of the people of Rome the gladiatorial games are established in Rome from once again, Etrucans.

Expansion - Once with a scandal in the kings family, the regency era of Roma fell and it moved over to a governmental scheme which is still today's foundation in any political rule, the establishment of the republican system, this also divided the public into socio-economic classes, same as today's society, within keeping a relationship between upper and lower class. 

All this history could've come to an end in 390 BC with an invasion of the northern Goths, this conflict has held Rome under 100 years of constant war. The end of this conflict was finished with a treaty between the Romans and the Goths. For the Goths, Rome promised to ally with them and support them in any threat, and for Rome, the army of Rome was supplied with a massive consistent flow of the Goths.

The large expansion of the Roman empire was once with the conquered of the Carphage territory and also the Greek city of Corinth, these actions led to the merge of northern African and Greek culture in globalist Rome.

Once the conquering of Julius Caesar of every Roman political power, he was assassinated as the senet was theorizing that Julius wanted to start another regency era. With his death, Julius Caesar has given all his wealth to his grand nephew Octavian Augustus who took good care of the wealth and upgraded Roman society through; the expansion of the Rome metropolis invested a lot in the development of performed arts and increased the number of grains harvested. Octavian ruled for 43 years however after these years chaos struck Rome once with the rule of Nero whose purpose was to melt Rome which he had by setting it on fire and taking his own life.

After such a downfall the Roman Emperor was no longer decided by his family or senate but by the royal army who killed all the Emperors all the way till Claudius came to reign and manage under such chaos to expand the borders of Rome and then Emperor Trojan which has made a road system all over conquered land from England to Syria. 

Crisis - With all great stories comes a tragic end, by 260 AD many provinces has broken off and declared independence from the Romans, therefore, leading to the deterioration of The great Roman empire. The final blow to this crisis was Emperor Diocletian who gained back the liberated land however he decentralized power into regions like sectors. The attempt at the unification of Rome by Constantine the Great led to a vision of the holy cross which made him accept Christians have equal rights as pagans.

Theodosius I the Great was the first Christian ruler of Unified Rome who made Christianity the main religion even destroying pagan temples.

The last year of the Roman Empire was 390 Ad when the sons of Theodosius split the empire into east and west. Eastern Empire would live up to 1000 years leaving the name of the Byzantine Empire, whereas the West will be known as The Holy roman empire which not lived long due to falling victim to the great migration and threat of the European goths.

    -This was all done with the help of Arzamas (2017) Ancient Rome in 20 minutes, youtube: Arzamas. 

 Roman Society and Life - 19/04/2023

With a sophisticated and similar society to the one today, Roman society was a metropolis with a very strict rule on the socio-economic classes, with a hard chance of even stepping up the ladder. So to summarize, if you are born poor, you die poor.

 

Upper class - If lucky and born into a wealthy family, you would have educative facilities such as schools in politics, science, literature, and the biggest subject that came with the Roman expansion in the Balkans, philosophy, and many more. Also as a wealthy Roman, you would live in beautiful architectural villas which have a slave for every room and facility all under the prospect to satisfy you.

Once with wealth, the elites of the state come after you to involve you in their inner circle, segregating you from the poverty of Rome or any either city. This inner circle was usually quite remote from the presentence of Rome's public, most of the time living and going by their day in the outskirts of Rome.

Also, these Patricians of Rome would have lavish and materialistic lifestyles which come about from each soil in the civilized land at that time. 

Poor class- Unfortunately for your soul if born into a poor class in the city of Rome, the chances of you becoming rich were dropped beneath 20% due to the conservation of families and social status. Whereas the rich enjoyed fancy 5-star villas with silk and all the refined materials, the plebs could only dream of it on their hay and shabby beds into packed and overcrowded ancient blocks, with no access to any clean water, the plebs lived in unimaginable filth which later on turn illness on them. The conditions of the poor class of Rome were so bad people had to abandon newborns to richer families just in the hope of changing the hellish fate of that baby. Although poor in wealth, the plebs were rich in number creating mobs that rebelled against the elites and wealthy many times, however, these mobs were the number 1 target audience in the chariot racing and Colosseum games

who today are seen as brutal and unacceptable today however for a person with little modern and humane morals, it was entertainment for a Christian to get mauled by tigers and gladiators to fight till one of them collapses underneath the sword.

Shared lifestyle aspects - Even though the rich and poor were segregated making the rich stand out like an elephant in a plain, both classes enjoyed the same entertainment interest such as circuses, gladiatorial games, and chariot racing however the poor were standing up one against each other in the scorching Mediterranean sun just to look at human crimes happening, whereas the elites and rich would stand in balconies with shed and slaves who made sure to keep the wealthy comfortable by feeding them exotic and luxuries food and drinks and be at their hand for anything.

Religion mythology - With the spread of Greek influences all over the Mediterranean, the religion of Olympus was shared and worshiped by the Romans but with their own take on such religion. 

Ranks and roles were given to these gods who were part of the third dynasty of the Greek gods, these divinities were called Olympians. Zeus, Hera, and Minerva were nominated as patron gods of Rome; Aries, Aphrodite, and Poseidon were given the name of the planets Mars, Venues, and Neptune.

Hermes was converted to Mercury, the god of communication, trade, and commerce however the leader of all these Gods was Saturn, who was the offspring of Uranus and Gaia, he was the leader of all of the Gods above as.

Romans would worship their religions through festivals and feasts and also sacrifices, as example, in this sculpture Emperor Marcus Aurelius is sacrificing an animal in the temple among many other men who were in his cult. 

- BBC Archive. 2011. History of Roman Empire. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/roman_religion_gallery_05.shtml#:~:text=The%20rituals%20consisted%20of%20festivals,the%20state%2C%20household%20or%20individual.. [Accessed 11 February 2011].

This points out that most of the worshipers were actually rich people as not only they can afford to sacrifice to the gods but also be among powerful people of the statue such as Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

Roman Culture 19/04/2023

Once with the great expansion of Roman Empire, many cultures has mixed and diversify the roman culture itself, however with this global merge happening the romans have defined their own identity by their own takes on the many cultures brought from conquered land.

A great example of the roman interpretation would be Greek culture, with the romans adapting it but with ambivalence take. Greek culture was a very attractive to many empires due to its flamboyant and sophisticated nature however the Romans seen such thing as a culture of defeat therefore taking its fundamentals but changing it into a more barbaric like and more serious, however due to